


after the war you said we'd fight together

by sapphfics



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Drabble, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Post-Canon, Pre-Canon, musings on a life growing up in the horde and how to heal after
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:28:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24223576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/pseuds/sapphfics
Summary: Adora’s first word is “Cat.”This is the first thing she can remember.Her teeth are growing so she can’t quite make her mouth work around therapart, but it makes the girl in the bed next to her smile and that is more important. She knows Catra’s name. Catra is the first person she sees, the first person she ever knows, even in the crowded nursery.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 238





	after the war you said we'd fight together

Adora’s first word is “Cat.” 

This is the first thing she can remember. 

Her teeth are growing so she can’t quite make her mouth work around the _ra_ part, but it makes the girl in the bed next to her smile and that is more important. She knows Catra’s name. Catra is the first person she sees, the first person she ever knows, even in the crowded nursery. 

Adora doesn’t remember how old she is. She’s small, learning to walk by clinging to the side of her coat, learning to follow the scratch marks in the walls. No one teaches her; she learns on her own. Infants are always left to cry in the Horde, never comforted, only abandoned until they are old enough to become soldiers. 

The girl in the coat beside her calls Adora “Dora.” When Adora finally stands on her own, can walk without tripping, she gives Catra her hands to lean on. The fur on Catra’s ears is growing back; it has been kept shaven for a long time. Her hair is growing too, and Adora wants to plait it. Sometimes, when she gets scared but won’t say it even now, Catra will curl up on her cot and they will hold each other until they fall asleep. Adora likes those nights; she doesn’t like Catra being scared but she likes being held. Adora won’t admit this, either, but she thinks Catra understands. 

Shadow Weaver tries to seperate them, sometimes. The Horde are not loyal to fellow soldiers, they are only loyal to their leaders. Forming bonds might mean that they will protect each other and not the Horde’s interests. She fails. They just don’t show their relationship around her.

Secrets are a currency in the Horde. Adora learns this early and ensures no one will know hers. 

-:- 

Catra learns the word “love” by accident.

She’s fourteen now. She learnt her the day she was born by breaking into Shadow Weaver’s files. She counts the years on her wall with tally marks. In training. Shadow Weaver is dragging in a prisoner by his hair. Catra hears a woman screaming something, the man’s name she thinks, saying “Leave him alone! Mika, I love you-“ 

Catra does nothing to help. Only watches. She does not yet know that this is wrong. She only knows Shadow Weaver. The man is a prisoner, a rebel, and he will reap what he sows. 

Later, she relays this to Adora. Adora knows better than to cry, but Catra sees her eyes well up. 

“What is love?” Adora asks her. 

Catra shrugs. “I think...it means you care about someone a lot. The way she screamed...she was in pain. Maybe love makes you care about people so much you want to scream?”

“Maybe,” Adora shivers. “I don’t want to scream. Shadow Weaver will hear us.”

“She won’t hear us,” Catra promises. “She’s with the prisoner, remember?”

Adora smiles suddenly. “Okay. Then I love you.”

“I love you too,” Catra says and means it, even though she isn’t entirely sure what that means, yet. 

But she will. That is another promise. 

-:- 

Adora wakes up with Catra holding her. Adora rubs her eyes, letting the sun wash over her. She hasn’t slept in for what feels like her whole life. 

It’s nice. 

“Hey Adora.” 

She grins, kisses her. “Just like old times.”

“No,” Catra kisses her again. “It’s way better.”

**Author's Note:**

> idk what this is....follow @ camilleseverin on twitter/tumblr if u feel like it


End file.
